Jane Grant is currently chief operating officer of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s acute service division. She will take up the post, which comes with a salary of between £96,864 and £132,017 per annum, in early October. She was appointed following interviews and will succeed Professor Fiona Mackenzie, who is standing down after 11 years in the role.

Alex Linkston, chairman of NHS Forth Valley, said Ms Grant had “an outstanding track record in health service delivery” and added: “I am confident she is the right person to take the organisation forward.

“Many significant changes and improvements have already been made to the way health services are delivered across Forth Valley over the last 10 years, however, there is more to be done and I look forward to working with Jane to build on these achievements.”

Ms Grant, who is aged 51 and lives in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, joined the NHS in 1983 as a management services officer within Highland Health Board. She worked in Stobhill Hospital as deputy administrator. In the early 1990s she moved to Lanarkshire Health Board as hospital administrator within Hairmyres Hospital. She then undertook a variety of posts associated with planning, information and contracting within Lanarkshire and was appointed general manager of Hairmyres Hospital in 1999. Ms Grant became general manager for surgery in North Glasgow in 2000, and from April, 2005, acted as chief executive within the North Glasgow Division. She was appointed as director of surgery and anaesthetics for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in early 2006 and became the board’s chief operating officer in 2009.

Ms Grant said: “I look forward to continuing the work established by the current chief executive to drive forward the delivery of high quality health care.”